Volume 4 Issue 11/12 2011 Markspring-MPM Paulmccartney 09/01/2012 13:10 Page 1

volume 4 issue 11/12 2011 MarkSpring-MPM_PaulMcCartney 09/01/2012 13:10 Page 1

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mobile production monthly 1

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con tvolumeen 4 issue t11/12s 2011

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6 Production Services 22 Cirque du Soleil 10 Production Storage Group Sets, Storage, Space, Solutions, Simple! Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour 10 Q&A Robert Roth 27 Tour Vendors "Oh Yeah? Watch Me!" 30 Crew Members

14 Sound ISP Technologies: Op-ed Worse Things Have Happened Winning Friends and Influencing Mix Engineers 34 16 Martin MLA Makes Its Mark In Music City 36 Obit Daniel John Lee – In Memoriam

18 MD Live Video 40 Advertiser's Index 18 A Young Company with Years of Experience

mobile production monthly 3 FROM THE Publisher

In this issue of mobile Production monthly, we take a look at Cirque du Soleil’s latest masterpiece, Michael Jackson The Immortal Tour. Our Chief Writer HOME OFFICE STAFF Michael Beck had the pleasure of seeing this thing a 7 3 2 in action, and I’m sure you will find his report an ph: 615.256.7006 • f: 615.256.7004 enjoyable read. 2961 Armory Dr • Nashville, TN • USA 37204 mobileproductionpro.com

Also this month we have 2 great audio pieces by Bill For advertising inquiries: Evans. He made the trek to Nashville to checkout [email protected] Martin Audio’s MLA system as it was set up in the Bridgestone Arena for demo sessions. Bill also takes Publisher: Larry Smith us to Michigan and Chene Park to talk with ISP [email protected] Managing Director: Chris Cogswell Technologies. [email protected] Chief Writer / Photographer: Michael A. Beck Other stories we have this month include Mike [email protected] Drew’s MD Live Video Production and his work on Art Director / Graphic Designer: Kristin Salaway the recently completed Rascal Flatts tour, a piece on [email protected] Production Storage Group, and an interesting Q & A Webmaster: Michael Stalcup with concert lighting guru Robert Roth. [email protected] Contributing Writers: We hope you enjoy Tour Link 2012. We are here to Bill Abner / [email protected] have a good time, network, and above all, learn from Hank Bordowitz / [email protected] each other so that we can all be a part of improving Robert Bryson / [email protected] Bill Evans / [email protected] this already fascinating world of concert touring. Have Todd Kramer / [email protected] a great 2012. Bill Robison / [email protected]

Larry Smith TOUR LINK BOARD OF ADVISORS Benny Collins, Jim Digby, Jon Nevins, Stuart Ross, Bobby Schneider, Jay Sendyk, Seth Sheck, Nick Gold Nicki Goldstein, Chuck Randall, Michelle Freedman tourlinkconference.com PUBLISHED BY Anvil Productions, LLC ph: 615.256.7006 • f: 615.256.7004 FOLLOW US Tour-Guide-Publications / Tour-Link-Conference @mobileprodpro / @TourLinkConf

©2011 Anvil Productions, LLC. Nothing may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit any and all editorial content included in this publication. The publisher has made every attempt to insure accuracy and consistency of this publication. However, some listings & information may be incomplete due to a lack of information provided by various companies listed. Please send any inquiries to the attention of the publisher. All advertising appears at the paid solicitation of the advertiser. Anvil Productions, LLC, can not be held liable for any errors, omissions or inaccuracies appearing in this journal in the form of editorials, listings or advertising. Member of:

4 mobile production monthly

Production Services

Production Storage Group Sets, Storage, Space, Solutions, Simple!Video

he tour is ending; there are sev- By Todd “TK” Kramer eral trucks filled with scenery and gear which need a home In August 2001, Manny Parodi founded get off the road. While on tour with T and opened Production Storage Group, Christina Aguilera, a light bulb went until the next run waiting on the load- a company with a vision dedicated to off and the idea for Production Storage ing dock. You want it all cared for by serve the touring industry in a niche Group hit me. No one was providing professionals who know touring, the that needed to be filled. storage services catering to our industry at the time. Everyone was storing at security intricacies and the demand- After years of touring as a carpenter, staging houses or public facilities.” ing schedules touring professionals Jumbo Tron tech, projectionist and keep. You want the move to be simple stage manager Parodi, while preparing Maintaining Aguilera who was Produc- to get married, was looking to get off tion Storage’s first client, from her Genie and easy, commercial storage closes the road and yet stay in the business In A Bottle tour to today, Parodi is proud too early, the staging houses are filled he loved. Opening doors on August 1, to have a high rate of client retention. 2001 in the city of Commerce with a “Most of our clients stay with us once with new construction. Enter Manny mere 40,000 square feet Production they are here. We not only provide stor- Parodi and Production Storage Group Storage Group has grown to operating age space but pay the greatest attention to the rescue stage right. three warehouses in greater Los Angeles to client security and service. Produc- from LAX to the San Fernando Valley tion Storage facilities are available 24/7 with a facility in Van Nuys and Rancho by appointment only limiting access Dominguez with over 170,000 square and traffic at all three warehouses. The feet of space today. Parodi is currently clients generally provide their own labor preparing to open warehouse number which helps keep expenses down and four and will have over 200,000 square adds to security efforts.” Production feet of storage space after January 2012. Storage Group and Parodi believe in making the transfer of gear from truck Beginning his career in the industry to storage easy. “All of our warehouses with Mike Hirsh and LA Stage Call in have dock level loading; ramping is such the mid 1980’s as a stagehand Parodi a waste of labor, time and energy. Our took in all the knowledge he could facilities all have forklifts and dollies mastering many stage craft disciplines. available to make the guys jobs easier. “I wore as many hats as I could. Mike Labor usually comes from the client was my mentor I learned a lot from which helps keep their costs down.” him, working as everything in every department. Parodi worked his way up “Scaling down crew helps me keep Albert Vasquez (left) Manny Parodi (right) from Production Storage Group the ranks absorbing knowledge every costs to the client down. We charge flat step of the way. I remember my first rates, with just two other employees. I’m gig well; it was coiling four aught feeder pretty much the face of the company,” cable for a Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s adds Parodi. sane event. I was so new to the business I wore a white t-shirt, that was black by “I love it when the guys come in, and the end of the 16 hour day from coiling with all the gear here from current cable.” and past tours, it’s kind of like a roadie museum. I even have a mock elephant Building an impressive resume on the from Cher’s Farewell Tour. How an road touring with Gloria Estefan, Mi- elephant got on the tour bus I’ll never chael Jackson and Iron Maiden to name know,” says Parodi. a few, Parodi quickly advanced within the industry. “I was good at getting gigs “Our business is pretty much word of Jeremy Schilling (left) Gus Urbina (right) from Road Radios on the road but it was time after many mouth, so in return I like to refer good years to move on and settle down and people and good companies when the

6 mobile production monthly need arises. We have a few support companies under our roofs as well, Road Radios, Road Case Rentals and Mates Cartage to name a few. We refer a lot of people to gigs, it comes around full circle when you help others then everything works out great.”

Production Storage Group is growing says Parodi, “We’ve just started a division of wardrobe archive storage utilizing our climate controlled offices with proper storage and cataloging. We’re providing a database and easy access method to wardrobe storage that has worked out pretty smoothly.”

Steadily growing from a 40,000 square foot government lease to its current 170,000 since 2001 to its anticipated 200,000 in 2012 Production Storage Group is a company on the move. Providing storage solutions for any size production is simple, safe and easy, with offsite monitoring of all three warehouses so fire and police can respond in minutes giving production peace of mind at all times. 

Production Storage Group Inc. 110 Topsail Mall Marina Del Rey, CA 90292 phone/fax: 310-581-8079 mobile: 818-512-8472 e: [email protected] productionstoragegroup.com

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18827-VANRoadBookMag_SavorAdREV.indd 1 11/10/11 2:35 PM mobile production monthly 9 q&a with Robert Roth Robert Roth "Oh Yeah? Watch Me!" on the wall

“You love him or you hate him.” There are few people in our industry about whom that statement is less applicable than Robert Roth. Over the 40 years of his career many names have been used to describe him. However, hovering just over the top of all of them is one name that cannot be denied... Genius.

and borrowed some projectors from him and that. set myself up as the “Aurora Light Show”. Fair enough. Okay. How did that work? As fate would have it, I was off to buy some The first night I did something they passed JBL studio monitors for my stereo system the hat and my mom and I sat up and that I’d scrimped and saved up to buy. When counted it. I think they collected something I walked into the place where I had to order like $11.00 in change but the hook was set. them - back then this a was special order And over the course of the next few years item – there lying in a pile on the floor were this became my big hobby other than the 15 six inch quartz fresnels, a half dozen scouts – I’m an Eagle Scout, which is some quartz lekos, a Scrimmer SCR dimmer pack of the best management training I’ve ever and a little one scene board. I looked at the had in my life – this was my pass time. It guy and asked, “How much for all that stuff was attached to music, which made it all the over there?” Lo and behold it was roughly more important because like so many people the same amount as I had in my pocket to in this business I also played music, I was a buy the studio monitors. So I drove home When we think about the people drummer. in the family station wagon with this pile of who have brought innovation to this gear and that’s how it really all got started. industry since the beginning, the How did the hobby turn into “R. A. short list has to include you. How and Roth”? When was this? when did it occur to you that this was the direction you wanted to take? Pretty soon it became clear to me that for We’re up to 1972. every ten drummers there was one lighting Well it goes back a really long way. I was a designer and lighting was pretty interesting Up to this point you’d just been doing teenager living in Athens, Georgia. Having to me. So in my senior year of high school the oil projection stuff right? Had been born a New Yorker and transplanted to my father was transferred to Atlanta, which you done anything like proper stage Athens by way of Miami was a real culture is when we moved to Tucker in suburban lighting yet? shock. There are good sides and bad sides Atlanta. with those culture shocks. One of the good No. So I thought, “If I’m going to do this things for me was that Athens had a really What did your father do that he I’m going to have to figure out how to do it.” vibrant music scene being the college town moved around so often? The only way to test it out and understand that it is. I was never really a sports guy it was to go to work for a bar band and start so I started going to see free shows at the He worked for Environmental Protection honing my chops and that’s what I did. University Union. A couple of times I saw Agency. what would be euphemistically called in this How did you find work? day and age a psychedelic light show. So as you were looking down the barrel of “what will I do after high There were a couple booking agencies here What time period was this? school?” Did you have a plan? in Atlanta and I knew some of the top guys in some of these agencies. So I went to them 1967 or so. This was in the era of oil and For some reason I had it in my mind that I and asked which bands had the money to water – in fact it was actually oil and glyc- was going to go to Georgia Tech and major put on a lighting system. I hooked up with a erin once you really got into it – and I came in electrical engineering. faux English hard rock band from Atlanta. home and told my dad the next day, “I could I toured all over the East and Midwest with do that. I could do better than that”. He That wouldn’t have been a bad fit. those guys. Then in March of 1975 we got says, “Well why don’t you?” I agreed. “Why an opportunity to go out to L. A. and be a don’t I?” So I went to the Jr. High principle Yeah but I would have wound up in archi- part of a project with some of the guys from tecture or industrial design or something like Three Dog Night and Bobby Kimball who

10 mobile production monthly later became the lead singer for Toto and There were actually a couple reasons for some other people. So with 48 hours notice that. One of the first touring rigs I ever the sound guy and I loaded up the truck and saw was Michael Tait’s system with Yes. He drove out to California. had four monstrous sized boxes that were numbered one through four. Because there mPm: Just like that. You just up and weren’t commercial par fixtures in England split for the coast. at the time he built a 4x4 array of boxes on yokes. So each box had its own yoke and it Yeah, that’s how it happened. all had a master yoke and he had four hand lines to the corners and he would focus the It’s amazing no one ever wrote a thing by way of those lines. Each box had song about that sort of thing. four lamps in them because in England they weren’t producing par bulbs so he had to Yeah well after several months of working use four of them and wire them in series to the dream, the time came to exit California. make it work. The other thing that influ- So we came back to Atlanta. The trium- enced the shape of those square pars was phant homecoming show of this band was Pink Floyd. They came through Atlanta on triumphant in every respect except that the Dark Side of the Moon tour and I was sort there was no audience, but there was one of an unpaid stagehand and get this, they guy who came out to see us named John only had one truck. Can you imagine Pink Nash. John had a sound company called Floyd in just one truck? Anyway, that stuff ILF, which stood for Intergalactic Lost & came in and it was individual rectangular Found. boxes with par bulbs in them. So that’s where the shape of my lights came from. Ooookay I was taking my influence from two of the seminal rock bands of the day. I simply did Yeah I know. We could ask Nick Jackson what any young guy would do at that point, what LSD meant. Light and Sound I copy-catted that stuff. Design, that’s right. In any case John was in the audience that night and he took When I was running your rigging me aside during one of the band breaks department I was working a project and explained that production is starting that called for a very long cable run to become an integral part of the concert and we didn’t want to have con- experience. He went on to tell me that light- nectors along the way. So we were ing is something that he was being asked to looking for cable that had a line of package with sound and he suggested that strain relief running through it. You I start up a lighting company. Backtracking walked by the conversation and Shred your just a bit, when I came back from California asked what was going on. When I had one of those pivotal conversations with we told you, there was no discern- my dad wherein it was discussed that this ible pause before you directed us guitar, not just wasn’t really working out and maybe I to contact a mining company and should consider going to college or starting find out where they get their cable your hands! my own business. The money they’d saved because they run single lines down for college was still there. And on that rainy into mines and need strain relief on night in early December of 1975 at that bar the runs. We just blinked at each gig when I heard John Nash’s words it all other and asked you how you had clicked with my conversation with the dad that information sitting on the top of and I said, “That’s it. I’m going to start my your head like that and you said, “At own lighting company.” In the December of the time of life when you guys were 1975 in the basement of my parent’s house I partying and chasing girls around started what would become R. A. Roth, Inc. I was reading catalogues.” Is that really true? What kind of gear did you have? x I can see myself saying that. (winking) I I had a few thousand dollars that I’d saved should have been chasing the girls. and my father staked me the rest of the perfect money I needed and I got a few Vermette While I had my difference with some lifts because I didn’t want to go with air lifts. of your ways, that was the moment Hand CAre FOR You have to remember at that time truss sys- I started to have a good deal of tems weren’t all that common. It was ground respect for your intellectual capacity guitar players supported towers with a dozen lights on and resourcefulness. them. And of course there were the famous square par cans that I actually started build- I’d forgotten that until you just brought it ... studio, live, ing in my hotel room with that heavy metal up. But I can definitely believe it because in band. trying to build a lighting company back then & touring ! we didn’t have an industry of James Thomas www.guitar-hands.com Why square? I always wondered Engineering’s or Tomcat’s or ETC’s. The about that? continued on 38

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12 mobile production monthly America’s Leading Provider of Luxury Coaches and Award-Winning Transportation Services Sound ISP Technologies: Winning Friends and Influencing Mix Engineers

onsidering they are working in a field where technol- C ogy changes the tools of the trade all the time, audio pros can be a pretty conservative and hidebound bunch. Or maybe it is just that we have an aversion to updating riders. Whatever. But the bottom line is that there are an awful lot of “veteran” acts touring with riders that call for the same gear that was around the last time the act had a hit. Not that it’s bad stuff, but there has been an awful lot of new stuff released in the past few decades and a lot of it is miles better than the old stuff.

by bill evans featured a complete loudspeaker system For additional info. from Waterford, MI based loudspeaker visit: isptechnologies.com The issue is getting engineers and pro- company. The artist line up was heavy on R&B, Jazz, and Hip Hop and featured duction managers to hear it and trust it bing and boisterous group of fans who appearances by a diverse group including and list it on the rider. This is especially anchored their boats in the river and Lauryn Hill, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, the an issue for smaller companies that don’t listened to the performances. Also add- O’Jays and others. have huge marketing budgets or the abil- ing to the challenge is the Chene’s urban ity to throw around a ton of free gear just setting which required the sound to be The system consisted of 20 HDL 4212 to get it out there. contained while still providing the needed Line Arrays, 4 HDL 4210 Line Arrays, punch and low end that the performers 18 XMAX 212 subwoofers and a 14 For such a company, the best bet is often required. This was taken into consid- piece ProWedge 212 monitor system. to develop a relationship with a regional eration when determining the system The 4212s were hung ten per side with venue or production company. A system design. ISP’s Jon Waller worked closely 2 4210s per side added as downfill. All installed in an Indian casino or a munici- with Winkler using a proprietary in-house of the subs were ground stacked. Grand pal venue can go further for a smaller prediction system to best determine array Rapids, MI based Stage Works oversaw company than any tour ever could configurations. because over the course of a season, that the installation and operational aspects of the rig. Acting as both Chene Park’s regional venue will see a couple of dozen Buck Waller, president of ISP system engineer and Stage Works head bands, most with their own engineer Technologies, commented, “We are a audio engineer, Johnny Winkler played a and there is no better way to get lots of Michigan based company and love to key role in pushing through the ISP rig to people making decisions about what gear work with local large scale events in the visiting sound mixers. “The ISP boxes are they will and will not use in front of your state. That being said, we knew that not familiar to a lot of FOH mixers but stuff. some great FOH engineers from all over nobody can argue with the results. Once the country would use this rig and they they have mixed on it, 9 out of 10 guys Such is the case for Michigan-based would insist on a high level of perfor- have been absolutely blown away.” ISP Technologies and Chene Park, a mance regardless of the local connection. six thousand-seat amphitheater located We received nothing but praise from There were several challenges to the at the banks of the Detroit River in them this season.”  downtown Detroit. That venue recently Chene Park concert series—along with wrapped up a full season of concerts that the “captured” seating, there was a bob-

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mobile production monthly 15 Sound

Martin MLA Makes Its Mark In Music City by bill evans

t has been about a year and They proved the point last summer by from Delicate and SSE. Martin’s North getting a bunch of media types out to America marketing guy Rob Hofkamp a half since Martin Audio intro- a Zac Brown show in Chicago where was there and Jason Baird “Research I duced the MLA system in the we were able to see MLA being set up & Development Director”- one of the U.S. When it was kind of sort of and tuned and driven for a show. It was propellor-heads from the UK who really launched at the InfoComm show in impressive. understand how MLA does its magic - walked a couple of dozen engineers Las Vegas in June of 2010, it made But the brainiacs at Martin do not just through a 30 minute presentation on what quite a splash with a combo of know how to do DSP for rocket-science MLA does and how it does. The session easy rigging, consistent and con- audio. They are savvy enough to know took place a couple of times a day over that a system like MLA which is so three days. trollable coverage and more DSP different from the dominant line array horsepower per cabinet than NASA paradigm - especially one with the kind used to put people on the Moon. of price tag associated with this system - Politics of Dancing needs to get in front of real working audio pros. And not in some ballroom at a trade The biz being what the biz has become, In case you missed the hoopla, MLA show. Engineers want a place to take a not everyone was keen on being seen is what Martin calls a “multi-cellular full-size concert system and pound the checking out a new system so we will leave array”. The idea is to treat each driver hell out of it before they will think about names out, but a range of mixers and in each box as a separate source and to adding a new line item to the rider. system techs associated with acts covering use massive computer processing cycles the musical spectrum from trad country to address and process the output of each to classic rock disguised as country to pop driver in order to get in and really tweak Banging At Bridgestone to modern rock to metal all showed up to and control coverage patterns. hear for themselves if MLA could really With all that in mind, the three U.S. do what Martin claims. And everyone we We have all heard claims of amazing companies that have invested in full talked to walked away pretty impressed control over coverage, but the stories told MLA rigs - On Stage Audio (OSA) out with the system. about limiting where sound could go on of Florida and Las Vegas, Delicate out some outdoor festivals in Europe got a lot of California and Special Event Systems During the public sessions, groups of of attention. The fact that the claims were (SES) out of South Carolina - have audio types walked the room checking being made by one of the smartest guys worked with Martin’s U.S. marketing force coverage and searching for seams. We in the audio biz who is also on the short to arrange a series of demo sessions where call it the “sound guy two-step”. It’s a “generally not full of crap” list got even engineers can get their hands on MLA dance of sorts where grizzled road dogs more attention. and actually drive it. take three steps forward and two steps back. Then two steps to the left and back Martyn “Ferrit” Rowe was - along with After sessions in L.A. and Las Vegas to center, two steps to the right and back Jeffery Cox - one of the driving forces earlier this year, Nashville was next on to center. All of this happens with their behind the original adoption of the the list. Plopped down right in between heads down as they listen intently for any L-Acoustic V-Dosc system and he has the Country Music Hall of Fame and audible “glitches’ in the coverage. earned a high degree of respect. When the historic Ryman Auditorium, the he claimed enough of a drop off in level Bridgestone Arena is home to both the And they were not finding any. Some in the space of about three feet to make local hockey team and plenty of national of the brave (and more in shape) souls an SPL meter that had been reading 96 tours. Perfect place to hang a full size rig trekked to the top row of the arena to to drop enough that the meter would not and the perfect city in which to invite a hear if the MLA was really able to keep read it seemed to violate certain principles bunch of audio types to come down in the audio off the “back wall of death” found held dear and even sacred by sound guys. middle of the week to play with it. in arenas all over the U.S. Others just kept You know, things like the Inverse Square walking back and forth through the six- Law. OSA’s Mario Peoples and Jim Risgin foot deep space between where the front were on hand along with some folks edge of the deck would be and where the

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Hofkamp says that the current plan is to do at least four of these sessions in 2012 in order to spread the word. At least two A-List mix engineers brought in Pro Tools sessions from shows with their clients and mixed on the system as though they were prepping the room for a show. One brought his system engineer with him and they REALLY put it through its paces Atlanta Area: 3412 Florence Circle ❙ Powder Springs, GA 30127 even insisting that they be able to bypass Charlotte Area: 348 Bryant Boulevard ❙ Rock Hill, SC 29732 the “house” eq setting and start at a zero point in terms of system output and response and build the sound from the ground up. When we called it a day after a couple of hours with one duo we figured they were about done. A phone call later that evening told us otherwise. The pair had spent nearly five hours throwing everything they could think of at MLA and reportedly came away willing to add it to a very short rider list.

This is the kind of demo that makes sense. Not that it was perfect. It was cold (remember, it’s a hockey arena and there is ice under that wooden floor), too dark and there was nothing to eat or drink unless you brought your own. An actual deck and a band would have been nice too instead of canned tracks and Pro Tools sessions that were only heard by a few people in the private sessions. (We would tell you who, but then, we’d have to kill you...)

But all in all, a very worthwhile way to spend a few hours midweek. When the MLA “Touch Me, Drive Me” tour hits your town, you should really make the time to check it out. 

mobile production monthly 17 Video

involved in the Nashville scene,” he admits. Production work wasn’t immediately forthcoming which led to a brief stint working at Pepsi sports marketing, before landing some freelance camera and LED work.

Quickly garnering a good reputation, this led to other freelance work with Screenworks, MooTV, CT and I-MAG.

In 2008, Flatts video director Lavoie moved on to other projects and Production Manager Kendall Carter tapped Drew to fill that position. Having worked from the “ground up” it was a well-deserved opportunity. With it came many more. Drew spent part of 2010 directing Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” Tour while Flatts were on a break.

“It just got to the point around early 2010 where so many different ventures and offers were opening that I decided it was time to go for it,” says Drew, in regard to creating his company at that time. It had a few drawbacks. He was basically a one man show in the beginning; booking crew, transportation, handling payroll, acquiring gear, as well as fulfilling his main duties as sole sales exec. Drew notes too that, “Suddenly you go from being everyone’s best friend to being a competitor.”

Md live video While the bidding process was still part and parcel to the development of last year’s tour for Rascal Flatts, MD Live A Young Company was able to deliver the unique product designer Bruce Rodgers requested; a 9mm white video tile. The band with Years of Experience wanted a white video wall. Rodgers incorporated this concept into the entire set, as “he is always very aggressive By Mike Wharton with his video design,” states Drew.

D Live Video is a young “It is a very heavy LED tour. Everything is white. There are 404 video surfaces, some of which are the upstage company, rapidly establish- video wall, which has a set of three doorways the band ing its name on the resurg- literally walks through to enter and exit, and all the band M risers have tiles for projection too,” continues Drew. ing Nashville scene. Created by Michael R. Drew in 2010, it was born Discussions for the current tour began in April of 2010, out of a desire to meet the needs with rehearsals starting in June 2011; culminating in the first shows on June 16. of its current tour Rascal Flatts, and the expanding roster of clients as a Drew attributes the success of MD Live to the fact that result of that exposure. his crew members consist of freelancers he grew up in the business with. “They’re all young and hungry to see this Drew’s five-year association with the Flatts touring orga- succeed as much as I do.” nization began as a camera-man working under touring Video Director Keith Lavoie. “Other than my father, The crew is filled out by LED Techs/ Camera Operators Keith has been one of my main mentor’s,” says Drew. David Bergfeld, Evan Smith, Patrick Eaton and Eric Wallace. Drew first stepped onto a riser behind the handles of a long lens camera at the age of fifteen. His father, Mike “They’re a great team of guys eager to show up each day, Drew, a Production Manager since the early 90s, hired him which is evident in the camaraderie on the tour,” says to fill in on a Common World Productions event. Drew going on to say, “I can’t see myself doing anything else. I still get that rush each night just before show time Originally from Minneapolis, Drew relocated to Nashville when I sit down at my console.” to attend Belmont College to pursue a degree in political science. “Really, though… it was to check out and get “A lot of the up and coming bands are looking for one stop shopping,” says Drew; “MD Live wants to fill that need.”

As the company plans for the future, MD Live has recently Mike Drew & company can be found moved into a larger programming and prep facility in on the web at: MDLiveVideo.com Nashville. An editing suite will be added with an eye towards developing content as well. 

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LOS ANGELES I NEW YORK I CHICAGO I LONDON I HONG KONG

v5.indd 2 11/23/2011 10:22:16 AM Poster Design by Laura Baisden at Hatch Show Print Nashville TOUR TRUCKING BY ROADSHOW SERVICES, INC. CELEBRATING 30 YEARS 800-861-3111 By Michael A. Beck

Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson The Immortal world tour was the most ambitious arena tour to go out in 2011 and arguably one of the most aggressive designs to ever tour arenas. In the world of Cirque du Soleil shows are designed by the creative division of the organization, which then must be translated into engineering terms and passed on to the tour’s venders for assembly and manufacturing. The person who carries out this translation is Technical Production Director Stephane Lemay. When Lemay was finished the tour was presented with a 44 truck production weigh- ing in at just slightly over 200,000 pounds. By the end of production rehearsals it finally hit the road at a trimmed down 123,000 pounds static (129k dynamic) traveling in 34 trucks.

However, the fact that the show lost almost duction (as one can imagine) both Berry and half its body weight and 10 truck sizes should Cirque du Soleil Senior Production Manager not be taken to imply that the show lost its for Arena Shows Pierre Guillotte were quick complicated nature. There is very little about to say that this is a Cirque production from this show that isn’t challenging. At the top top to bottom. of the list of challenges is the fact that every arena tour Cirque had taken out prior to this That notwithstanding, Guillotte was equally one had been a modification of its tent shows. quick to admit the value of Berry’s pres- The Michael Jackson production was the first ence. “Jake’s collaboration in this process was time Cirque has ever designed an arena tour essential. If he hadn’t been part of the pro- independently of any other project. cess we probably would have hung 250,000 or 260,000 pounds instead of 200,000.” In light of this new approach the very wise decision was made early on in the project to As one might imagine, once the size and bring Jake Berry into the game as a consultant weight of this show was reined in to within via his new company Jake Berry Productions. more practical parameters (something that While this had a grounding affect on the pro- will be discussed throughout this story) the

22 mobile production monthly Michael Jackson & The Immortal World Tour

mobile production monthly 23 primary complication of this production the manner marley rolls out onto a stage. was the one thing that separates it from The display consists of six roller carts that rock shows of the same size, of which there each contains a 10’ x 21’ roll. have been very few in history. That difference is the nature of the activity that takes Going into rehearsals the most prominent place on the stage. feature of the show was a massive tree positioned in the middle of the stage. The Because the performers in this show require tree actually existed in three primary parts: every square foot of stage area, the layout the canopy and the two halves of the trunk. of set and scenery is not just critical in We’ll get into that somewhat odd descrip- terms of the blocking of the show, but also tion of the trunk in a moment. But for in terms of potential injury and even death. now we’ll focus on the canopy. It weighed Therefore, the opening of the show takes 17,000 pounds and took up four trucks. place with nothing on the main stage. In its Because of the issues of weight and truck opening condition the stage consists of four space that were constantly tugging at every- basic areas: main stage, barbeque deck, B one’s sleeve and certain structural concerns stage and the ramp connecting the main that were never truly resolved, the canopy stage with the B stage. of the tree was cut from the production during rehearsal. Because the shows plays in an end-on configuration it is limited in size as is any However, the trunk was another story all concert stage, which in this case is 72’ wide. together. It exists in two vertical halves. But this show has a several large set pieces When it is split open the flat section of each and props. The show also has a live – and side is faced with 12mm Pix2o LED screen. incredibly good – band that plays behind Due to space limitations this allows design- the recordings of Michael Jackson’s voice. The band plays on a riser that is 14’ high and 54’ wide affectionately known as the “barbeque deck”. In addition to serving the obvious purpose of getting the band up off the main stage it also functions as a storage area for many of the props used in the show as well as backline stations.

The front of the barbeque deck is faced out with 15mm Korean made Everbrighten BR15 LED product. The video product doesn’t just create a wall. At certain parts of the show the face of the riser expands out onto the main stage thus becoming a step unit to be used by the performers during the show. However, the step units don’t extend all the way to the offstage ends of the deck. Because there has to be room for access/egress of the aforementioned props to the stage, the outside 9 feet of the face is oriented to be doors that are hinged in the middle that collapse and expand in order to open and close much the same way as an air wall in a hotel ballroom. The video product in the doors is the same as the step faces.

A first glance the stage area downstage of the barbeque deck looks completely empty. But as is usually the case with Cirque, looks are deceiving. In the center of the stage a 20 foot square section of deck that is faced with 12mm Pix2o LED product and covered with Lexand and hinged along the ers to hide the trunk halves in plain sight downstage end. During the opening of the on stage by simply turning the video face show this portion of the stage is hydrauli- out toward the audience. When the trunk cally tilted up into a vertical position thus comes into play as a single entity is moves acting as a front facing video wall. Because out to the center of the stage and locks the the LED product is the same as the three two sides together becoming the trunk. And massive vertical LED walls that fly upstage while the canopy is no longer a part of the of the barbeque, deck the two presenta- show it is substituted with a scrim arrange- tions work very well when playing together. ment that flies in and covers the area once The upstage walls are spool systems, which occupied by the top of the tree. means they deploy off of a roller in much

24 mobile production monthly mobile production monthly 25 Although the solution for keeping the trunk as they fit into the space on the ends of the – and thus a superb acrobatic vehicle – is main stage beyond the offstage ends of the rather creative, the real creativity is in the barbeque deck. way the units move around the stage. They are self -navigating and driven. The tech- The fact that the gates only have one nology has been used to drive unmanned purpose has an element of logistical ben- forklifts and other vehicles around factories efit. Because the only data they need is and warehouses for a long time. However, directional avionics and 42 volt drive units this is the first time it’s been used on a – which are identical to the drives on the touring stage. Each half of the trunk has trunk halves – is powered by a battery thus a rotary LED laser shooting down at the allowing the gate to function wirelessly. stage whereupon holographic reflectors are placed. Each reflector has a specific pattern The ramp extending from the main stage which acts as a point of origin or termina- to the B stage – known as the Travelator – tion. has a vertical drop of two feet as it slopes down from the six foot elevation to the 42” Each unit has a drive motor that can be B stage. It was given the name because it disengaged thus making it possible to push contains two conveyer belts that travel the the unit from one point to the next. Once at distance of the ramp. However, because each point the location is recorded into an of the varying sizes of venues in which the onboard brain that stores the information. show will be playing over the course of the Once all of the navigational decals have tour the ramp can be constructed in lengths been placed and recorded the unit is then of 40, 30 and 20 feet. But the 20 foot con- parked and can now move smoothly into figuration doesn’t utilize the belt as there position in order to be used as the trunk wouldn’t be enough travel in the belt for and back to its home position. The entire the acrobats to do any of the creative work move from one position to another is done normally performed on the longer lengths. with a sequence of three cues. The B stage is circular with a 28’ diameter Because the trunk units also contain video and its center consists of elevator. Because elements they are connected to control via of the very short lift envelope below the a snake the carries both power and control. stage the lift can’t have any mechanical gear However, they aren’t the only set pieces under the platform. Instead the platform that navigate in this same way. There is is gripped and lifted from the corners by also the “Neverland” gate. Like the trunk short forklift masts adapted for the job. This the gate also travels in two pieces. Unlike allows the deck of the riser to rest on the the trunk pieces the gate units have no floor of the arena allowing for maximum other purpose than to come together as concealment during times when props or the gate to Neverland. Therefore, they personnel are being lifted into place or have to be stowed completely out of site removed at the end of a performance. for the duration of the show when they aren’t being used. Storage isn’t a problem The downstage edge of the main stage as

As one can imagine, a very important component of this production is the color pallet. The show runs through 250 costumes with more than 1,000 pieces all of which are vibrantly colorful. This adds a huge dynamic to the visual impact of the show."

26 mobile production monthly Vendors PRODUCTION CONSULTANT JAKE BERRY PRODUCTIONS SOUND, LIGHTS, VIDEO, RIGGING SOLOTECH AUTOMATION/GRID WI CREATIONS STAGING BRILLIANT STAGING PYRO, SFX PYROTEK SPECIAL EFFECTS, INC. LASER DESIGN PRODUCTION INC. BUSSES SENATORS COACHES, INC. TRUCKING TRUCK N ROLL! CATERING LATITUDE 45 CATERING, INC. POWER CAT ENTERTAINMENT SVCS. PASSES CUBE SERVICES, INC. ITINERARIES SMART ART

mobile production monthly 27 almost all of which coming from the Vary*Lite catalogue. Included in this number is the usual –if not ubiquitous – presence of the Vari*Lite VL3000 Spot, VL3500 Wash FX and VLX. But there are other offerings from the VL universe that aren’t as frequently seen are the VL880 and the VLX3. While there were also Atomic 3000’s, Color Block’s and BB7 Blinder’s. However, the more interesting line item was the 78 VL880’s.

Solotech Senior Vice President Touring Richard Lachance explained the reasoning for using this fixture, “The VLX-3 and the VL-880 both come in a small light weight package, and we were working the weight angle very hard. The need to save space was as powerful as was the requirement to keep the weight down. The acrobats needed all the floor space we could give them and these two lighting instruments filled that bill perfectly. The fact that the VLX3 has an LED light source with a life of 10,000 thousand hours illuminates the man-hours and expense of changing lamps.”

All of this flew off of truss and a mother grid system put forth by trussing giant Tomcat. This was the largest contract ever taken on by Tomcat. We will be looking more closely at this system and many other parts of the Tomcat in a detailed essay devoted to the company, which will appear in mPm in the next few months.

The audio system wasn’t exempt from the truck place pinch, thus all of the Meyer MX speaker cabinets are self-powered thus freeing up the space that might have otherwise be taken up by amp racks. These cabinets were developed specifically for this production by Meyer and are lighter and more powerful than any prior Meyer cabinet.

There is an aspect of this tour that is unique to this type of show. Because of the nature of the show there is a large medical presence on the tour. The tour carries a fully staffed P-Med unit. In addition to being able to handle any medical situation that may arise the P-Med staff also well as both sides of the Travelator and the action. The operator for the set pieces as well holds regularly scheduled emergency procedure perimeter of the B stage are adorned with 32 as the A grid automation is placed midway up training sessions for necessary tour personnel. 80cm x 80cm modules of 25mm Barco stealth the first level in the seats directly house right Everyone who has to go into the air during the LED product. The final note on the video of the stage. In addition to those two positions show is trained in fall arrest and emergency portion of the production is the use of nine there is also a back up operator who can jump rescue procedures. Because the performers of projectors: four 18000 lumen HD Christie in from his console in the event anything should the show have a broad array of sprains, bumps digital video projector, installed on VIP dual go wrong with the motion control rigs for either and bruises there is also a team of trainers on yoke made my Zap Technology used for the grid. He also runs the all of the VaroLift move- the tour as well. The tour also carries a full downstage large screen, two 10000 lumen HD ment as well. workout facility for the purpose of keeping the Christie digital video projectors installed on VIP performers in shape. Finally, in the event of yokes and three 10000 lumen HD Christie dig- A very important component of this produc- the unthinkable happening, the tour hires local ital video projectors. tion is the color pallet. The show runs through medical staff and an ambulance is on the prem- 250 costumes with more than 1,000 pieces, ise at all times. Motion control is a huge part of this show. In all of which are vibrantly colorful. This adds addition to the aforementioned set navigation a huge dynamic to the visual impact of the There has been chatter in the past that says there are also the 19 drum wenches and several show. However, that impact cannot be truly there is distinction between an arena show of VarioLifts in the show as well. Because there realized without the massive lighting system, this kind and a rock show that travels in the very are automation elements in the A grid (over which, along with the video, rigging (not includ- same way. And yes there are some differences the main stage) as well as the B grid (over the B ing acrobatic rigging) and audio systems, was between the two production styles given that stage) there are more than one motion control supplied by Montreal/Los Vegas powerhouse this has more moving parts than a concert. But operators around the room. The MC operator Solotech. for the most part it’s the same thing and should who controls movement in the B-rig is logically be considered as such. However, don’t take this placed at the mix in order to be on top of the The lighting system consists of 431 instruments

28 mobile production monthly writer’s word for it. “In the end it comes down Production POWER to nearly the same thing.” says Jake Berry, Tour Production Manager - Ivan Macias “At the end of the [work] day the artists have Andy “Andy O” Omilianowski to validate the rigging on the Cirque show Production Stage Manager - PYRO whereas on the concert tour the artists have to Nick Barton, Sean Robinson Lead - John Arrowsmith get a sound check.” Production Coordinator - #2 Raymond Seymour Aaron Seigler, Jessica Berry Want more proof ? Try this, 40 members of this Technical Stage Manager - WARDROBE tour were brought in by Berry upon completion Martin Gauthier Head Wardrobe - Bettina Bolzer-Bowles of the U2 360° Tour including Tour Production Wardrobe Staff: Ali Schwalbie, Susan Manager Andy “Andy O” Omilianowski. While Audio Hoekstra, Amber Lynn Lacher, Julie Lep- this is his first time out as production manager System Engineer - Sylvain Lemay age, Tanya Liquorish, Genevieve Corbel, he has a long career behind him as a stage Crew Chief - Colin St-Jacques Catherine Aubertin, Karine Denoncourt manager within the organizations of produc- Audio Techs: Étienne Lapré, Renato tion management “Yoda’s” Jake Berry and Petruzzielo, Martin Paré MISC CREW Dale “Opie” Skjerseth. Omilianowski was very Wireless & Comms - Charles Déziel Security - Tony Robinson quick to explain the importance of Berry and FOH mix - Tim Colvard IT - Edouard Boissonneault Opie in his career, “Those guys are my mentors Monitor Mix - Alastair McMillan Laundry - Matt Krueger and without them I simply would not be able to Merch - Sarah Dosch do this job.” Lighting & Motors System Engineer & Head LX - Denis CATERING When the tour first hit the road it couldn’t get Ayotte Catering Crew Chief - Wesley Tischoff into the venue in the one day first allotted for LX Crew Chief & Head LX - Yanick Blais Chefs: Billy Lucas, Tony Donofrio, David the task. Since then the production team has Lighting Techs: Vincent Adieux, Benoit Smith, Nate Serkland gotten the load in down to 11 hours with the Paillé, Claude St. Cyr, Mathieu Lavallée, Dining Room: Nate Boals, Juli Heinen floor being marked at 5 a.m. and the room Louis-Charles Poudrette, Jonathan Cou- Buses & Drinks - Jason Kirby being handed over to the performers by 4 p.m. lombe At the end of the day the show is on the floor Board Operator - Éric Bélanger TRUCK DRIVERS in roughly 90 minutes and out of the room in a Lead Driver - Rémy Auclair, total of three hours from the end of the show, Video Drivers: Pat Bernard, Steve Collard, which is down from nine hours at the beginning Crew Chief - Jean-François Marin Brian Andrews, Richard Baker, Rodger of the tour. Video Techs: Philippe Valade, Louis- Baughman, Patrick Bellefleur, Rob Bolin, Philippe Gaudreau, Sébastien Cous- Benoît Bourdages, Wayne Cameron, Omilianowski understands that this is still a long ineau, Dominc Moreau Brian Cochrane, Mathieu Delaney, day by any standard. For that reason he chooses Server Engineer - Pierric Ciguineau Sylvain Desaulniers, Andrée Desnoyers, to have a laid back approach to managing the Video Director/Engineer - David Boisvert JP Desrosiers, Patrice Dubuc, Philippe tour. “It’s a challenge everyday in more ways LED Tech - Justin Demeulenaere Dumaure, Steve Flood, Richard Guil- than one just because of the size and nature of lemette, Christian Hamel, Nick Kulyk, the thing. But we have the people to go above Rigging Vincent Lafrenière, Sylvain Lagacé, and beyond those challenges and make it a Head Rigger - Chad Koehler Nicolas Larouche, Mélanie Legros, Éric good fun day for everybody. We really try to Riggers: Scott Fremgen, James Harrelson, Leroux, Simon Losier, Adam Morris, Jon- have a good time. Working under Opie for 15 Robert Slepicka nie Normandeau, Bernard Perreault, Rob years and Jake for the past three, I learned how Head Acrobatic Rigger - Craig Reid Portwood, Don Rae, Steven Rawson, to take it all in stride and not get freaked out Acrobatic Riggers: Ryan Durocher, Peter John C. Michael, Johathan St-Germain, about the job,” says Omilianowski. Will, Kevin De Montigny, Britany Kiefer, Gareth Taylor Sean Barker Despite the fact that this show is the first one BUS DRIVERS that Cirque du Soleil has designed from the Automation Lead Driver - Brian Brown beginning to be an arena show, it’s not the Stage Auto Operator - TK Woo Drivers: Luther Hardy, Thom Blauvelt, first time Cirque has toured arenas. Currently Front of House Operator - Menno Van Arther Blauvelt, Dennis Autry, Arlene Cirque has 850 people (including MJ) touring Wetten Starr, Doyle Andrews, Brian Harlow with arena shows. “We use the same gear and Automation Techs: Simon Twigg, Greg transportation as the ‘mainstream’ rock shows,” Santos, Chris Davis Core production staff - Montreal says Pierre Guillotte. “We work in the same Senior Production Manager - venues with the same IA crews.” Granted there Carpenter and Props Pierre Guillotte were a few design hitches on the front end of Head Carpenter - Jamie Pharand Production Coordinator - Tanya Sarrazin this tour. While it may be said that those hic- Carpenters: Johnny Gonzalez, Kerry Head Arena Rigging Specialist - cups were overcome by Jake Berry’s consulta- Rothenback, Adam Beasley, Minh Jeffrey Lucas tion, the truth is they were overcome by the Nguyen, Josh Kapellen, Chris Ricalis, Rigging Advance Production Manager - wisdom displayed in the decision to bring Jake Dennis Osborne Brett Barrett into the project. Guillotte feels good about the Head Props - Brian Bulmeyer Senior Technical Draftsperson - outcome and the prospect of future produc- Props: Joe Pollacek, Claudya Alain Alexandre Serdakowski tions. “Everybody knows that we learned a lot Technical Draftsperson - Pascale Lefebvre about creating an arena show from the ground Backline up and we’re walking out of this process with Keys - Brian Girard a wealth of maturity and knowledge,” says Percussion - Brent Cook Guillotte. Guitars - Tim Mattefs Drums - Mike Cormier Makes you wonder what might be next.  Keyboard / Sequence - Greg Rule

mobile production monthly 29 Production Crew

Andy “Andy O” Omilianowski - Raffaele Buono Tour Production Manager Head Automation / Operator 1

1: Brian Girard - Keys, Brent Cook - Percussion, Tim Mattefs - Guitars, Mike Cormier - Drums 2: Denis Ayotte - System Engineer & Head LX, Vincent Adieux - Lighting Tech, Benoit Paillé - Lighting Tech, Yanick Blais - LX Crew Chief & Head LX, Louis-Charles Poudrette - Lighting Tech, Claude St. Cyr - Lighting Tech, Mathieu Lavallée - Lighting Tech 3: Julie Lepage - Wardrobe Staff, Amber Lynn Lacher - Wardrobe Staff, Susan Hoekstra - Wardrobe Staff, Ali Schwalbie - Wardrobe Staff, Ali Schwalbie - Wardrobe Staff, Bettina Bolzer-Bowles - Head Wardrobe 4: Carpenters: Josh Kapellen, Dennis Osborne, Jamie Pharand, Johnny Gonzalez, Minh Nguyen, Chris Ricalis, Kerry Rothenback, Adam Beasley 5: Philippe Valade - Video Tech, Dominc Moreau - Video Tech, Sébastien Cous- ineau - Video Tech, Pierric Ciguineau - Server Engineer, David Boisvert - Video Director/Engineer, Jean-François Marin - Crew Chief, Louis-Philippe Gaudreau - Video Tech 6: Standing: David Smith - Chef, Reino Cruz, Wesley Tischoff - Catering Crew Chief, Mike “Bitch” James, Nate “Boalsy” Boals - Dining Room, John Parker, Zach Rudland. Crouching: Wilfredo Lopez, Tony Donofrio - Chef, Juli Heinen - Dining Room, Isaiah Myers. 7: Joe Pollacek - Props, Claudya Alain - Props, Brian Bulmeyer - Head Props 8: Greg Rule - Keyboard / Sequence, Alastair McMillan - Monitor Engineer, Étienne Lapré - Audio Tech, Sylvain Lemay - System Engineer, Colin St-Jacques - Crew Chief, Martin Paré - Audio Tech, Renato Petruzzielo - Audio Tech, Charles Déziel - Wireless & Comms 9: Acrobatic 3 Riggers: Craig Reid, Sean Barker, Kevin De Montigny, Peter Will, Britany Kiefer, Ryan durocher 10: John Arrowsmith – Pyro Lead (Shooter), Raymond Seymour - Pyro Tech (Shootee) 7

6 10

30 mobile production monthly 2

James Harrelson – Rigger, Chad Koehler - Head Rigger 4

8 9

Matt Krueger - Laundry

Ivan Macias – CAT Power

mobile production monthly 31 mobile production monthly 33 Op-ed

Worse Things The truly sad news was that they were guy I’d been dealing with down at the all in far worse shape than I. There was unclaimed baggage office came in with Have Happened a family on its way to a cruise and their the white baggage claim tag that was luggage was missing, which meant that placed on the bag when I checked in at they were about to embark on the ten- the Vegas airport. He looked at me with day voyage with only the clothes on their apologetic eyes and simply said, “It’s been back and whatever carry-on stuff they stolen.” He knew this because he went might have. There was a woman whose and looked around the baggage claim pet taxi was missing along with the dog area and found the tag on the floor next that was in it. Everyone there had a simi- to the carousel my bag came in on. lar story to those. At this point I got really angry, but it Compared to these poor people I was wasn’t the fault of the people I was deal- rolling in clover. The worst possible sce- ing with. I wished them all a Merry nario I could have faced was that my bag Christmas, grabbed my paperwork and had been stolen. But I was 28 miles from headed for my car. The bag contained the home and a fully stocked closet. Because usual assortment of undergarments, toi- I carry all valuables in my camera case, letries, shirts, sweater, jeans, and a pretty which never leaves my side, I was able to expensive pair of dress shoes my wife had hold it together in that light. given me for our wedding day. In light of the truly tragic things going on in the By the time I got up to the counter I’d world or the real difficulties that Carolyn seen these poor people catching a lot and I face (as all families do), the loss of On December 23, I was trav- of misdirected anxiety and I just wasn’t these things was nothing earthshaking. eling back from Las Vegas in the mood to pile on. I told them what But it was still a violation and that had after having taken in Cirque du Soleil’s was going on and they looked up my bag the idealistic child in me asking “WHY?!” Michael Jackson Memorial show. While and ascertained that it had been checked I wasn’t asking “Why me?” Just “why” in I’m not a fan of traveling that close to into the airport and put on the carousel general. They were the most comfortable Christmas and I’m not the biggest fan line. They gave me some paperwork to shoes I’d ever owned. The bag was a nice of the bright lights of Vegas, I do love give the people at the “unclaimed bag Eddie Bauer bag and I hate having to going there for one reason, and that is I office”. When I got there I waited on line. shop for luggage almost as bad as I hate get to see my old and dear friend Robbie It was truly sad because a number of the shopping for shoes. Greenberg. The time spent with the people in the first office I was in had been Cirque team went very well as did the sent down here with the hope that this is Because it was now 1:30 a.m. I didn’t very short amount of time with Robbie. where their bags had ended up only to want to call Carolyn and wake her up, find that the hope was false. but I wanted to talk about it. I knew that When the time came to mount up and Robbie was just getting home from a get back, I was quite ready to get back to Again, when my turn came I just gave the gig so I gave her a call. When she heard home, hearth and my good wife Carolyn. guy my paperwork and he disappeared about it she said, “Michael, if some- The flight was enjoyable enough, which into his office. When he returned he one told me this story and asked me to made the time go by a little faster. When told me that the bag wasn’t in there and guess who it happened to I would have I left the plane it was about 10:30pm and would I mind coming back and looking said your name.” We both laughed and I saw a sergeant in the Air Force milling for myself. After an exhaustive search of rejoiced in the fact that in a half hour I around obviously killing time before his every bag in the area it was determined would be home with my good wife and flight left. I stopped in the restroom and that my bag truly was not there. Suddenly things would start to get better. In an odd when I came back out he was in line to the aforementioned “worst case scenario” way I felt a little better. When I got home get something at a newsstand. I cut in line was looking a whole lot less theoretical. So Carolyn was waiting up for me and we and paid for his purchase and invited to the guy looked at me with sad and weary talked about it for a while and finally fell him sit and chat and we’d kill the time eyes and directed me back to the office of off to sleep around 3:00 a.m. The last together. the Department of Disgruntlement where thing I was thinking about before I fell I would begin the claim process. When I asleep was the fact that I would rather About 15 minutes later we said our good- got there the room was completely empty go to sleep having been robbed than to byes and I headed for baggage claim. but for the people behind the counter. have to try to sleep knowing I’d robbed When I got there the carousel was still They all looked like they’d just survived someone. running but no one was around. The the entire six-month long Siege at Khe other thing that was missing was my Sanh within a two hour timespan. I went The next day I had a full day getting bag. As the reality that my luggage had in joking with them understanding that the stuff I needed to cook the meal on been lost began to wash over me, my there was nothing they could do to get my Christmas and replacing the things I stomach did the slow forward roll that bag in my hand before I left the airport absolutely needed that were lost in the anyone who travels a lot can relate to. I and probably not before the new year. So bag and preparing to play in church that went to the office of the Department of why get freaked out and add to their hard night. You see, I teach a nine-year-old Disgruntlement to ask what might have night? boy mandolin and his first public perfor- happened. mance would be in front of his church on The woman I dealt with took pity and Christmas Eve. Everything fell into place Unfortunately, the line was pretty long broke the rules skipping the five day wait- and the kid nailed the songs in church which means there were a lot of people ing period required to file a claim. As she and I was feeling great. Then as I was who might be in the same shape I was in. was filling out even more paperwork, the getting into my car after the service my

34 mobile production monthly More than 560 attorneys and advisors phone rang. It was a very kind woman in offices across the southeastern U.S. from Delta Airlines excitedly telling me that they’d found my bag in a bathroom and Washington, D.C., practicing a and it would be delivered to our house sometime before morning. broad spectrum of business law including transactions, contracts, litigation, I stayed up waiting for the truck to show as if waiting to hear Santa’s sleigh but transportation and entertainment. didn’t make it. It wasn’t so much the anticipation of what I might get when the truck arrived that I wanted to satisfy. I For more information, contact: wanted to see the guys driving that truck. Finally they called and suggested I hit the Steven J. Eisen sack and asked that I leave a note on the 615.726.5718 door authorizing them to leave the bag at our front door. I left an envelope in the [email protected] wreath on the front door with a note and the remaining money from my per diem James A. DeLanis for the guys who’d spent Christmas Eve 615.726.5613 playing Santa Claus. Then I fell asleep [email protected] around 4:30 a.m.

I got a late start on the turkey and that put everything else behind for the rest of the day. I’d harangued my brother about not being late (like last year) and they all showed up right on time. But no one cared that dinner was late when they heard the cool story of how I’d gotten ripped off and woke on Christmas Day The Rules of Professional Conduct of the various states where our offices are located require the following language: THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT. Ben Adams is Chairman and CEO of Baker Donelson feeling okay about it.  and is located in our Memphis office, 165 Madison Avenue, Suite 2000, Memphis, TN 38103. Phone 901.526.2000. No representation is made that the quality of the legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers. FREE BACKGROUND INFORMATION AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. © 2010 Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC MCI’s Ultimate Smooth Ride DesignworksUSA-styled

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mobile production monthly 35 Obit Daniel John Lee – In Me m o r i a m

By Michael A. Beck

On September 10 Backstreet Boys played the last show of a multi-night stand in Boston’s’ Fleet Center. There my head out just in time to see the live shot was already crawling names of the passen- was going to be some down time of a jet flying into the World Trade Center. gers across the reader board and there was before the next show in Toronto. This It was so incomprehensible that I figured no mention of Danny or Creech.” gave set carpenter Danny Lee time it was a movie and rolled back over. Then Carlos came back and said ‘You have to get While most of us were viewing this day to go home and be with his wife as out here man. Something’s really wrong.’” from the stationary confines of homes or she had their second child. During the workplaces, Vollhoffer and his crewmates He pulled himself out of the bunk and sat were in a very fluid situation as they load out Danny asked stage man- in the front lounge dumbfounded like the approached the Canadian border. “It was ager Troy Vollhoffer for permission to rest of us as the tragedy that would forever really spooky,” he remembered. “We were leave early once all the truck were be ironically labeled 9/11 unfolded before on the production bus which meant that all the whole world. However, there was a of the trucks were behind us and they just loaded up so he could get some dynamic on that bus that didn’t exist for the waved us through the border. They didn’t sleep before the long day ahead. majority of the rest of us that came in the check passports or anything. They just said form of a anxious phone call. hurry it up, we’re closing the border down.” Vollhoffer had no problem with that and the plan was set in stone. “I turned the TV up because I’d just woken By the time they got into their hotel in up and as we were watching all of this our Toronto it was around 3:00 p.m. Now it travel agent, Nancy Rosenblatt called in was confirmed that Danny was on the and said, ‘Danny was on American flight plane and several crew members went to Vollhoffer recalls Danny’s departure. “I’ll 11. the bar to watch the news when they saw never forget it. As he was leaving he looked I didn’t make the connection. I asked what Danny’s name finally show up among the over his shoulder and yelled, ‘See ya suck- that meant and she explained that we just list of passengers on American Flight 11. ers.’ And he walked out that door. I’ll never witnessed the second plane fly into the World With that information finally and tragically forget that a long as I live.” Trade Center and not the first one. And confirmed there was still the worrisome that was that.” question of where Creech might be. Danny wasn’t the only one flying out the next day. Stephen “Creech” Anderson While all of this was happening Creech was “I stopped by my house to see my wife for who is currently an account manager for on his way to Dallas. Immediately upon a minute before I had to get to the meet- Premier Global Production Co. Inc. was landing the news broke. “We were sitting ing,” Creech explained. “At that point I the lighting crew chief on the tour. Creech on the tarmac for a long time when the still didn’t know that Danny’s plane was was flying out to Dallas to do advance work pilot came on and explain that all flights in involved. As I was trying to get out to my for another show. The next morning Danny the US were now grounded,” he recalled. meeting, my wife said ‘watch this.’ I told and Creech rode to Logan Airport together “But by now phones were going ringing all her that I really didn’t have time and that it and arrived at 5:00 a.m. “We got there just through the plane and the whole thing was would be all over the news so I would see it as the place was opening and we wondered buzzing. My wife called me franticly want- later. Then she told me that the first plane around for an hour trying to find some cof- ing to know where I was.” to hit the building was the first flight to L. fee,” Creech recalls. A. out of Boston. That’s when I knew it By this time the Pentagon had been hit and was Danny Lee.” When the time to leave came Danny there was no doubt as to what was going boarded first and 15 minutes later Creech’s on. But back on the north bound coach Around 6:00 p.m. confirmation came in plane pushed. Around this same time Troy of Troy Vollhoffer there was much to be that Creech was safe. Once that concern Vollhoffer was sound asleep in his bus considered. “Our mood was much like the was put to rest there was the next issue to headed for the Canadian border. Suddenly rest of the country in that we just couldn’t be addressed. Should the band play the he was shaken from his sleep by lighting believe this could be happening. But also next show in Toronto? The decision was electrician Carlos Oldigs telling him to we just couldn’t wrap our heads around made to go through with the performance check out what was happening on TV. He the fact that Danny was gone. And where’s on the basis that the tour would not be explained what occurred next. “The door Creech?! We were trying to be optimistic. deterred by an act of terrorism. Added to to the front lounge was open so I crammed Within an hour of the second crash CNN that was the fact that the tour had lost a

36 mobile production monthly member of its family and there was a desire to dedicate the show to him. “There was some pushback by the local stagehand and others who thought it was disrespectful to do the show,” says Vollhoffer. “But we had our reasons.”

As the dust was settling at the crash zones and the world was taking stock of what had happened and what might lay ahead, the clarion call went out throughout the touring industry on Danny’s behalf and donations were raised for Danny’s widow whom he was traveling to join for their second child’s birth. Vollhoffer recalled the swift response of the touring community. “Madonna was out at the time and I think Janet Jackson was out as well. All these tours on the road started anteing up money to be sent to Danny. People were giving up entire week’s pay checks. A lot of money was raised in a really short amount to time and I know it got where it was going.”

As a writer for this industry one doesn’t often come across a story like this. So this past year as the opening of the 911 Memorial was drawing near I felt appalled that I could not find anything that had been written in our industry about this man who was by all accounts, “a great guy”. So I started asking around and by the time the memorial opened to the public I felt a magnetic draw to the go to that place and see the name of this man I’d heard so much about.

From the time you first get to the entrance line it takes 45 minutes, four check points and one metal detector to finally get in. But once you’re past the gates it is astonish- ingly quiet and serene despite the constant cacophony of noise associated with the construction of the new towers and the unceasing traffic on all sides. Once I found my bearings I located his name on the rail of the pool. There it was. It was like I was finally being introduced to someone I’d only heard about. I reached out and touch the cutout of his name and felt like a small, seemly insignificant journey had been completed by connecting with a person whose great journey was cut short long before it was ever completed.

This atrocity affected everyone in ways that are deeply and specifically meaningful to each of us. Everyone has a different opinion about the 911 Memorial. However, before you draw a final conclusion on your feelings on the matter I would like to encourage you to visit the site. And while you’re there wander over to panel N-2 on the North Memorial Pool and give a thought to Daniel John Lee and those who knew, loved him, worked with him...and miss him dearly. 

mobile production monthly 37 q&a: Robert Roth continued from 19 the equipment was specific to the companies. tion of what Clair had come up with in the industry just didn’t exist back then. If you Everyone had their own tweak on their gear. S-4’s and all their stuff. I was just doing it with wanted truss you had to design it. Since my There was the See Factor and the stuff that lighting gear. That’s why all my truss sections dad was an engineer I knew better than to not Tom Fields or Bill McMannus was doing. This were an odd size because I was thinking about get it certified. If I could not find the tubing was back when Mike Tait still had a lighting truck bodies and not eight foot increments. that I needed or the alloy I was looking for company and he was building scenery out of Consequentially, that comes to when we were I’d call Alcoa and find out minimum produc- an old church and doing some pretty cool stuff. loading 500 par cans in a single truck and no tion runs and lead times. We were having This was at a point when you’d see Gene and one thought I could do it and I said “watch tube made in alloys that weren’t standard for Roy Clair on tour all the time. The first time me”. the day for certain dies. There were all kinds I saw an S-4 system was also the first time it of things like that were going on back then dawned on me that truck bodies are all the Yeah, you said that a lot back then. because we were building an industry and same size. I needed to build trusses that fit truss there just wasn’t a business in place like today bodies. So we built truss sections that we could To be continued...  to support production companies. spin in a truck. And you know from working with me about the layering of cases and all It’s been said that Mozart never played of that stuff. It was a straight lighting adapta- the classics because he was too busy writing them. Were you aware at the time that you were on the front end of building an industry that would at some point be what it is today or were you too busy just keeping your head above water?

I think that when you’re doing stuff like that you don’t have the luxury of having the per- spective of time to judge any of it. It was more a question of being in a business trying to create an entity and I was too busy solving prob- lems. Were that I’d had an accounting degree too. At least I got that to rub off on one of my daughters. It was all new territory. Unlike today when lighting is kind of a commodity

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